


Your Crown of Deceit

by stoneheartedvenusian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois Friendship, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi Friendship, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe Friendship, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Makes Mistakes, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Makes Puns, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir-centric, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug-centric, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Attempted Sexual Assault, Badass Sabine Cheng, Bridgette & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug are Cousins, Butterfly Lila Rossi, Cheesy Enough For Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Evil Lila Rossi, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Félix Has Issues (Miraculous Ladybug), Gen, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Good Parent Emilie Agreste, Good Parent Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Good Parents Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Human Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Human Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), Implied Sexual Content, Knight Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard Acting As Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir's Parental Figure, Light Angst, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is a Sweetheart, Mentioned Emilie Agreste, Minor Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Minor Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix, Minor Plagg/Tikki, Minor Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain, My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, Peacock Félix (Miraculous Ladybug), Princess Chloé Bourgeois, Princess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Protective Tom Dupain, Song: Hollow Crown (Ellie Goulding), Tikki Loves Cookies (Miraculous Ladybug), Wordcount: Over 50.000, adrien and felix aren't related, exclusive to ao3, one-sided felinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23781442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stoneheartedvenusian/pseuds/stoneheartedvenusian
Summary: 21-year-old knight Adrien was living a normal life in the village with his mother Emilie, uncle who goes by 'Gorilla' and best friend Nino. When the murder of King Andre Bourgeois's adviser, Lord Gabriel Agreste takes place in the Goldlands, he travels to the beautiful capital of the Eastern region, only to be skilled with a task of protecting the princess of the most powerful family in the land, all the way up in the North. And as he finds himself falling for the Northern beauty, all the while trying to solve Lord Agreste's murder with her help, he uncovers several life-changing secrets along the way.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Emilie Agreste, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Félix Graham de Vanily & Lila Rossi, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 23





	1. Fighting Your Battles

  * _You know you're fighting in a losing battle, making a noose out of your hollow crown; I hold a match up to your paper castle and watch it all burn down, down, down_



Here he was, eighty miles away from his home in the village, mounted atop of his horse, riding with his best friend and fellow knight Nino Lahiffe by his side and perplexed on how to figure out just what had happened.

The mysterious death of King Andre Bourgeois's advisor, Gabriel Agreste that'd happened over a week ago had sent all into chaotic panicking. He was the Lord of the Winglands and had one of the highest positions of power throughout the entire continent, and his death was a shock to many, and a huge loss for the Bourgeois house, as he was one of their sources of great power. They weren't the most powerful royal house out of the eight in the continent; as that went to the Dupain-Chengs in the North. He'd heard stories of their heiress, a beautiful, ladylike girl of twenty-one named Marinette, the same age as he was. But enough of that; he had to get down to business and try to solve the mystery.

"What do you think could've happened to Lord Agreste?" Nino asked him as they rode their horses over the bridge atop the moat, looking away from what was ahead of him to look at Adrien. They stopped in front of the castles opened gates, pausing the making of their way over to discuss the current trial in the Four Kingdoms. "Someone in the castle has to be responsible, after all, it's guarded 24/7 and only people who have connections to house Bourgeois can get in."

Adrien knew that Nino had a good point. After all, he was called to help only because he was childhood friends with the only child of King Andre and his wife, Queen Audrey; their daughter and the future Queen, Chloe. She was blunt, stubborn and cold to many, but having known more about her than others did, Adrien knew she had a tender and lovely side to her that very few were able to experience the pleasure of seeing.

"Hmm, I don't know," Adrien shrugged. "Did he have any enemies? Were there people who hated him enough to kill him the way they did?"

In the letter sent to him by Gabriel's widow herself, Lady Amelie Graham de Vanily of the Wheatlands, a kingdom known especially for their great variety of pies and muffins that the bakers of the towns sold, she'd been told that the royal doctor found Gabriel dead in his bed, a dagger jabbed through his abdomen through the front. The bleeding was too much, and by the time the nurses had gotten to his room, it had been too late. He'd already been gone.

"I've heard stories of such by Luka," Nino replied. "There were ladies in the castle who envied Lady Amelie for the fact that he loved her. But as of right now, there's only one who actively works there, Mademoiselle Lila. And considering she's the same age as us, I don't think she'd be interested in him _that_ way."

"Ugh, you're right," Adrien shuddered at the thought of a girl the same age as him having feelings for the older Agreste lord, "Maybe, the guards let their _guard_ down, and someone slipped in when they weren't paying attention."

Nino thought for a moment before responding to Adrien with, "Did you just make a pun, dude?"

"Yep," Adrien winked with a coy look. "Anyways, back on topic; is there anyone else who was close to him that we can trust?"

"The Lady of the West, Tomoe Tsurugi was a close friend of his, but unfortunately, we won't be able to go to her. The entire region of the west is in a frenzy, as her daughter and heir ran away with no traces of where she went," Nino responded. "Audrey's daughter and her went to etiquette school together, but they hate each other for almost no reason. Or at the least, a very intense rivalry," he muttered under his breath, knowing well that it was likely that Adrien heard him.

"Why'd they hate each other?" Adrien queried with curiosity in his voice. It was easy to see why one would be frustrated with or mad at Chloe; as while she had a secretly nice and likable side to her rather complex personality, he'd never heard much gossip about Tomoe Tsurugi's daughter nor did he know anything about her, except for the fact that she was rather into fencing and had quite the chivalry, and was good enough to be considered a champion fighter or even a knight in the grand tournaments. "Did something happen?"

"Supposedly, Tomoe's daughter Kagami 'took' Chloe's seat at a huge dinner feast where her childhood crush, another knight named Nathaniel was at, even though it was hers to begin with and she'd been assigned to it," Nino rolled his eyes at the thought of the intense jealousy Chloe had against other girls many times, but had grown used to it over the years and his time as a Knight of the Hive. "And from then on, Chloe continued to be a pain in the ass to her until the dislike was very much mutual."

"Makes sense," Adrien shrugged. "Now, come on, Nino, let's go." and with that, he pulled the reins of his white horse with blue eyes, and Nino followed not too far behind him, and they head into the open castle gates and went over the moat, and rode into the castle.

* * *

"Your Majesties, when did this happen?" Adrien asked them, trying his best to sound serious enough for them to let him help. Audrey was even more of a difficulty personality-wise than her daughter was, and Andre had too much cowardice to not listen to his wife, as he was quite afraid of her, to Adrien's knowledge. "It took us three days to reach here, and how long before our arrival did Lord Agreste's murder take place?"

"A whole fortnight ago," Audrey answered the young knight and her daughter's childhood friend stoically. "But, in the tongue of you commoners, two weeks ago."

"We only sent five days ago because we were still figuring out how to handle everything," Andre cut in on the conversation, Adrien and Nino keeping their eyes on him with focused expressions. "And we gave you two a couple days to arrive, both for travelling itself and breaks, to be precise. It was only fair, after all you two have done in the past as protectors of the Goldlands."

"Thank you, sir," Adrien bowed to King Andre, pulling his sword out of his belt that it was settled in and placing the tip of the blade onto the floor as he knelt. "It's an honor to serve you, your wife and the future Queen."

"And thank you for your service, boys," Andre replied to them. "Now, come on." he ushered them to turn around and walk out of the door of the council's room, heading out the one that connected them to the investigation and crime-solving section of the castle's floor. "We have to discuss matters with the High Lords, they'll know what to do next."

* * *

The discussion with the High Lords had been a long one, as they were know on their third hour of discussing, planning and figuring out where to go next in the solving of Lord Gabriel Agreste's murder.

The lords were finally coming to the end of the discussion of the matter that'd been taking place during the whole meeting, and they looked to where Adrien and Nino sat together at one of the far ends of the table. "We have come to a conclusion," High Lord Carmichael spoke.

"We ask for Sir Nino to head out on a quest, one to find the runaway daughter of Lady Tomoe Tsurugi in the West," the second of the three in the room, Lord Douglas added. "And for Sir Adrien to accompany the most powerful family of the lands, the Dupain-Chengs in the North as they make an escape from their castle."

"Why are they escaping their home?" Adrien raised his hand, receiving approval from Carmichael to make his statement in the end of the talk. "There's no immediate or critical dangers in the Northern regions, therefore, nothing huge should prompt them to leave."

"Well, when the head detective of the castle here was searching, he found this," the third and final lord of the lot, Lord Tyson made his addition of the lords' solution. He held up a light-auburn strand of hair, putting it behind a white sheet of paper for all to see it better. "A strand of brown hair."

"And?" Nino asked, deadpan in tone.

"And, their current heiress, the Princess's best friend and handmaiden has a reddish-brown hair color, almost auburn in near eyesight," Carmichael answered to them. "So, we ask for Sir Adrien to ride northwards and protect the young lady."

"At your service," Adrien sat up almost immediately, heading out of the door and making his way to the staircase, on the way to the entrance/exiting door of the castle. "I'll leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow, Lord Carmichael."

"Excellent," Andre mused. "For now, feel free to have dinner in the grand hallway with Chloe and Nino. You deserve some time to yourself, son."

"Thank you, your Majesty," Adrien spoke to him one last time before dashing his head away from the door, running downstairs, and Nino followed him, not too far behind his blond best friend.

* * *

The two knights ate at dinner with only Chloe and her butler Jean there, nobody else, not even the King and Queen in attendance.

"It's nice to see you two again," she'd given both of the young men warm smiles, them returning the well-meant gazes to her with respect for the future Queen. "It's nice to have a couple of friends here in such a horrid time for me, my family, and Lord Agreste's son."

Adrien knew that Chloe meant that, deep down from the bottom of her heart. She'd always spoken to him eagerly, ever since the age of fourteen about her giddy crush on Lord Gabriel's son, Felix Graham de Vanily Agreste, and her want to marry him someday and produce a future heir to rule both her home of the Goldlands and Felix's birthplace of the Winglands, creating an alliance between the three royal houses of Bourgeois, Graham de Vanily and Agreste all alike.

"No problem," Adrien rested a hand on hers, easy to do from where he sat almost directly next to her. "Always."

"Felix left to the South, back where his mother and her family dwell," Chloe informed the two knights. "I wonder if that Tsurugi bitch crossed paths with him while he rode there."

Adrien sighed with disappointment at Chloe's bitterness towards the Tsurugi girl. Sure, he may have never met her before, but he thought it wasn't in her to act the way she did at the moment.

* * *

Later that night, as he and Nino prepared to head to sleep in their private chambers, they spoke to each other through the surprisingly thin walls of the rooms, assisted by their individually opened doors. "Are you sure about this, bro?" Nino asked him. "The North, while a great, wealthy and fertile place, is full of criminals and thugs."

"I'm a knight, Nino," Adrien scoffed wittily, all in the sense of being playful and comical. It was just banter, as where many other conversations of small talk that he and Nino had. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Nino shrugged to himself before speaking aloud to Adrien one last time, heading to sleep shortly after. "Whatever you say, my dude," he expressed. "Goodnight."

"Sleep tight," Adrien wished him kindly. "Sweet dreams, Nino."

"Talk to you in the morning?" Nino cut in one more sentence.

"Of course," Adrien lightly chuckled. "Now, go to sleep!"

"Fine!" Nino retaliated. "You too, though, my dude."

"I am now," Adrien said. And as he quickly fell into a heavy and comfortable sleep, everything went dark as he snuggled into his bed and covers warmly.

* * *

The sun rose high and glaringly through all of the windows of the castle, and Adrien awoke hesitantly at first, but became more willing upon realizing he'd be riding to the North.

And as he mounted his horse, just having eaten a mild amount of breakfast with Nino, he gripped the handle of his sword firmly. "Promise to find Tomoe Tsurugi's daughter and bring her back to her mother safely, Nino," he reached out to his best friend to shake hands with him before finally leaving. "It's part of our sworn duty as Knights of the Lands, and you better not break it."

"I won't, trust me, dude," Nino affirmed. "She'll be perfectly okay with me, promise."

"I trust you," Adrien winked, situating himself better onto the saddle of his white horse cautiously. "Now, I've got to leave. Make sure Chloe's safe too, okay?"

"I will!" Nino promised, yelling slightly as Adrien jerked the reins of his horse, Blanche, riding out of the paddock in the back fields of the Goldlands' castle. "And you keep the North's princess safe, too."

"I'm a man of my word," Adrien muttered, looking back and over his shoulder at Nino. "Goodbye!"

And with that, he rode off to the regions of the North, looking forward with a face full of optimism, ready to face his future.

* * *

The ride to the North took him a shorter time than expected, only from his waking time at around eight in the morning, arriving to the capital city's statue at around five.

He dismounted Blanche with grace, sword still within his belt as he got up. Walking towards the fountain that surrounded the statue of the first Northern King, a man who's name was known to little outside of his family, he saw a girl sitting there, sewing up patches of a lemonade pink headscarf with a needle. She had long, luscious curls of midnight blackish-blue hair, with fair light skin and twinkling bluebell eyes.

"Hello, fair lady," he approached her with a smile, the young woman looking up from the piece of fabric she'd been sewing in her lap, resting it to the side in her basket for a moment. She looked at him with a startled expression at first, but relaxed herself when finding out that he was just a kindhearted knight who needed a favor from her. "May I ask you a favor? I need to find a certain someone."

"Of course," she courteously bowed her head, "Anything."

"I'm looking for the heiress to the North, King Tom and Queen Sabine's daughter, Marinette," his question came out with a hint of worry, but was overpowered by his eagerness and polite demeanor towards the girl he spoke to. "Do you know where she could be?"

"Yes, of course I do," the dark-haired girl nodded. "You're looking right at her, good Sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you all enjoyed my first step into fanfic and the Miraculous fandom! Make sure to leave comments, they would make my day! Next chapter coming by Sunday.


	2. What Do You See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for implied nudity as a trigger. Nothing explicit or sexual, but I just thought I should put it up as a warning for those who might not want to see that. It's near the end, btw. But otherwise, enjoy this chapter! Please leave a comment if you can!

  * _You know you're fighting in a losing battle, making a noose out of your hollow crown; I hold a match up to your paper castle and watch it all burn down, down, down_



Adrien felt a flush of heat rush as the realization came to him that he wasn't talking to just any girl, but Princess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the only child of King Tom Dupain and Queen Sabine Cheng, heiress to the seat of the North, the richest and most fertile kingdom along that was ruled by the most powerful family.

"Oh! Hello, your Highness," Adrien politely bowed to her, and she smiled down at him with a warm look, curtsying in return. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Sir...?" she rubbed her chin in confusion, "What's your name?"

"Adrien," he introduced himself to her, both of them reaching out to shake the others' hands. "Nice to meet you, Princess." he reached out to grab her hand again, lifting it to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the top.

"You too, Sir Adrien," she blushed lightly along the apples of her cheeks as he kissed her hand. "Adrien." Marinette tested out the name on her lips, "You have a beautiful name."

He blushed at her compliment, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment as he looked away from her and over his shoulder for a brief moment. "You too, your Highness," Adrien walked closer over to her, going behind her and on her side. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you out here, all alone in the city with none of your father's guards to protect you?"

Adrien had heard things about how the capital city of the North, the second biggest in the entire continent after the one in the Goldlands, and just how filled to the brim it was with criminals and dirty older men who preyed on the younger girls who walked alone. And being young, beautiful and the daughter of the most powerful family in the land, albeit not the richest, Marinette would be a perfect target for them.

"Oh, my parents and cousin are away in the South to visit Lady Amelie," she answered him, taking a seat back on the edge of the fountain, as the blonde knight stood up in front of her, the two of them looking directly at each other. "She's an old friend of my mom's, and they thought it'd be right to go over there and console her as she deals with the loss of her husband."

"Why's your cousin there?"

"She loves the South, yet with all of their balls, beautiful costumes and the flowers that are always in bloom, even in the autumn and winter," Marinette answered, walking over to Blanche and petting her on the head, the beautiful mare instantly soothed by the Northern girl's touch. "If you don't mind, may I ride on your horse with you?"

He could swear that he felt his heart stop beating in place at her request; both from the fact that _she_ , a highborn girl with a huge claim to her family's throne and one of the most renowned and beautiful women in all the land wanted to ride with _him_ , an unknown knight with no money.

"Um, sure," Adrien's voice sounded anxious and clattered when he finally got the balls to reply to her, but Marinette didn't seem to notice, thankfully enough. "Here, let me help you on." he walked over behind her, his right hand on the small of her back and the other taking her hand, helping her hop up onto the horse cautiously.

"Thank you," she nodded to him with a frail smile, head turned back over her shoulder as Adrien himself got onto the thick saddle of the white mare, hands wrapped around her torso. She took a moment to wrap her headscarf around her head and neck, wanting to disguise herself from anyone who might recognize her and could be possible danger. "Uh, why aren't you taking the reins?"

"You control Blanche," Adrien said into her ear. "She's not easily spooked, and seems to already like you, so go ahead."

"How do I do it?" Marinette was nervous, as she hadn't ridden a horse since she was a girl of fourteen all the way back in the hot springtime at her great-uncle's house in the country. "I haven't ridden horses since forever, and kinda forgot how to... y'know, do things and be competent."

"Easy," Adrien moved his arms from around her abdomen and placed his hands on hers, guiding them to the reins. "Just pull them gently, and we'll be on the go."

"Okay," she softly nodded her head again and took the reins in her hands, giving them a forceful but not too tough jerk, and Blanche began to run through the streets of the marble-made city at a normal pace. "I did it!" Marinette cheered with a smile as they went onward, looking back at the sights one final time as they head out of the gate to the capital.

Adrien could swear that the way she looked when she turned back was one of the most beautiful ones he'd ever seen in a girl. A few strands of her hair escaped from her scarf and covered her face, and the glow of her face when she smiled was ethereal; making her look magical in a way. Nino was right; the beauty of Northern girls had a certain mysticism to it that was hard to put a finger on. "Marinette, look ahead!" he shouted upon noticing a giant boulder in the middle of the grassy fields they rode through, and she turned back around, grabbing the reigns and returning them and Blanche to their normal speed.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," she apologized, dipping her head down before looking out back ahead to keep her eye on where they were going. "It's just, I haven't been away from my home for an extended period of time, and leaving just feels weird. I wanted to get one last look of the city before we're gone for who knows how long."

"Oh, no-no, you're fine," Adrien replied to her politely, putting his hands back on hers to help her control the horse. "It's okay."

And so, they shared a final smile, before urging Blanche to go forward again a bit faster, leaving the capital city of the North behind.

* * *

  * _Tell me what you see, my dear, my dear_



Nino walked through the Whispered Forest quietly and carefully, a location all the way down in the southwest that he'd found traces of Tomoe Tsurugi's daughter in.

Her ring with her family's crest on it was the one he'd found first, followed by her cheongsam that looked like it'd been taken off in a hurry, and finally, her signature choker that she'd always worn when seen out.

"I wonder where she could be," Nino wondered to himself out loud, continuing to look from left to right repeatedly, looking at every inch he could find to see if she was nearby. "Lady Kagami! Where are you?" he called out those words many times, continuing to look around for any trace of her, where she went, or if she herself was somewhere in the forest.

He heard a noise of heavy pounding and clacking come from behind him. "What was that?" Nino's voice was fearful and breathy as he turned around quickly on one foot, trying to see if he could scope out just _what_ was making the noise. "Is anyone there?"

As the sound got closer and became less noisy, he took a few steps forward. "Reveal yourself in three," he challenged the figure who was ahead, but still unable for him to see clearly yet with the darkness of the forest. "One... two... three!"

Nino dashed forward and nearer to the figure, and screaming upon seeing an unclothed girl with a towel wrapped around her body, shielding her figure from sight. The two of them both screamed in fright, her falling backwards and onto her bottom with a loud _thump_. And as he was able to look at her face more clearly, he realized that he'd made a huge success in his quest.

With her midnight blackish-blue hair, brown eyes with a hint of rusted red in them, and pale face with light freckles, he recognized her almost instantly: Kagami Tsurugi, the heiress of the western house of Tsurugi, and the runaway girl he was looking for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed! Like I said above, please leave a comment if you enjoyed it!!


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